Starcastle


Starcastle is an American progressive rock band from Champaign, Illinois, United States. Formed in 1969, the group played many shows under the names Pegasus and Mad John Fever before eventually settling on Starcastle. They inked their first record deal with Epic Records in 1974, and received extensive airplay and frequently played in the St. Louis area. The original lineup included former REO Speedwagon vocalist Terry Luttrell and computing author/programmer Herb Schildt, while the mid-1980s lineup would briefly include guitarist Mark McGee, who went on to join Vicious Rumors. They released four albums on both the Epic and CBS labels. The band's debut album Starcastle sold well, garnering worldwide airplay.
Their later albums Fountains of Light, Citadel, and Real to Reel did not sell as well as the first and they were often criticized for sounding too musically similar to Yes. They were opening acts for such bands as Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas, Boston, Rush, Journey, and others. After several line-up changes, the band went on a ten-year hiatus from 1987.
In 2002, Gary Strater, Steve Tassler and Steve Hagler all released solo albums on the band's own Sunsinger label. This led to work on the band's final album Song of Times, before Gary Strater's death on September 19, 2004, from pancreatic cancer. Song of Times was released in 2007.
In November 2018, the band's official website announced the release of Alchemy, an archive release of studio and live material from the band's 1980s line-up. Additionally, their website announced a new line-up of the band consisting of George Harp and Bruce Botts, both of whom were in the 1980s line-up.

Players

Current
Past

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DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1969 till:04/01/2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Colors =
id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals
id:guitar value:green legend:Guitars
id:bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards
id:lines1 value:black legend:Studio_albums
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ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1969
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1969
BarData =
bar:Terry text:Terry Luttrell
bar:Ralph text:Ralph Goldhiem
bar:George text:George Harp
bar:Herb text:Herb Schildt

bar:Gary text:Gary Strater
bar:Matt text:Matt Stewart
bar:SteveH text:Steve Hagler
bar:Bruce text:Bruce Botts
bar:Mark text:Mark McGee
bar:SteveT text:Steve Tassler
bar:Mauro text:Mauro Magellan
bar:Scott text:Scott McKenzie

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bar:Ralph from:01/01/1979 till:01/01/1981 color:keys
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bar:Herb from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2006 color:keys

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bar:Mark from:01/01/1985 till:01/01/1986 color:guitar
bar:Matt from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2007 color:guitar
bar:Bruce from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2007 color:guitar
bar:SteveH from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2006 color:guitar
bar:Bruce from:11/01/2018 till:end color:guitar
bar:SteveT from:01/01/1969 till:01/01/1980 color:drums
bar:SteveT from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2006 color:drums
bar:Mauro from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1981 color:drums
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at:01/01/1977 color:lines1 layer:back
at:10/01/1977 color:lines1 layer:back
at:10/21/1978 color:lines1 layer:back
at:01/01/2007 color:lines1 layer:back

Discography